16 January 2006

ZIMBABWE: Poor start to basketball season

The Bulawayo Basketball Association (BBA) League started on a poor note with four out of the eight teams fulfilling their fixtures.

P.G Lakers, Hillside, Abundant Life Christian Church (ALCC) women’ team and Kaos did not fulfill their fixtures that were scheduled to be played this weekend. BBA public relations officer, Dinx Mabhena attributed the failure to fulfill the fixtures to the fact that teams were still trying to organise themselves. “Most teams are still trying to organise themselves and could therefore not fulfill their fixtures this weekend,” he said. Hillside is reported to be the only team that informed the league that it was unable to fulfill its fixture due to problems it was experiencing. Mabhena could not say what action would be taken against the clubs that fialed to fulfill their fixtures. Meanwhile, Classics drubbed Stars 65-51 at the BCD Courts yesterday. The game, which was one of the attractions of the weekend, saw Stars give a good account of themselves in the first quarter as they led 19-14. However, tables turned at half time as Classics improved and they led by two points, while their rivals stood at 28 points. The seesaw battle became more interesting in the third quarter when Stars clawed their way to the top position. Stars played a coordinated and simpler game compared to their rivals who preferred fancy footwork, much to their disadvantage. At the end of the third quarter they were leading by 41 points against Classics’ 37. The resuscitated duo of Prosper Gurajena and Matthew Tumbare put up a sterling performance in the final quarter, winning the game for their team at 65-51. Nonetheless Stars’ coach, Amos Tshuma said his team wanted to make a good come back and paid tribute to his charges. “We were looking forward to winning this game and we are disappointed that we did not make it. We played our best but our opponents were too strong for us in the last quarter,” he said.